The Crenshaw Dairy Mart Fellowship For Abolition and the Advancement of the Creative Economy

(CDM-FAACE)

Oto-Abasi Attah, CDM-FAACE INaugural Fellow 2022-2023
Photographed by Star Montana

The Crenshaw Dairy Mart is thrilled to announce its inaugural program and inaugural cohort of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart Fellowship for Abolition and the Advancement of the Creative Economy (CDM-FAACE). CDM-FAACE is a one-year fellowship program which incorporates the philosophies and ethos of traditional artist residency programs through a distinct abolitionist framework, alongside a robust curriculum component with frequent lectures, workshops, and seminars, as well as opportunities for each fellow to contribute to existing Inglewood-based and LA County-based projects which CDM has been leading. CDM-FAACE fellows are introduced to models of collective-care and collective-critique through frequent studio visits and group critiques for the duration of this year-long fellowship, which culminate to a final exhibition in Fall 2023. The inaugural fellowship topic for research and fieldwork in this inaugural year is, "Inglewood & Prototyping the Abolitionist Imagination."

The Crenshaw Dairy Mart believes that the marginalization of artists and arts workers of color, particularly Black creatives, has generated a harmful and unsafe creative environment for Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color and arts workers of color. Combined with the historically undervalued compensation for creative labor to cultural workers, we believe artists at the intersections of abolition and healing should have an abundance of resources for experimentation and creation within their community, as conduits and conspirators against White Supremacist, capitalist, colonial, and imperialist regimes. The Crenshaw Dairy Mart wants to foreground a new model of support for Black creatives and to imagine, model, and prototype a flourishing arts economy led by Black creatives through CDM-FAACE. CDM-FAACE aims to address the ongoing histories of systemic injustices within healthcare infrastructure which continues today to harm Black and Brown poor communities - and believes that these histories of harm must be repaired and healed. CDM-FAACE will be providing a generous stipend and healthcare insurance for all CDM-FAACE fellows.

This fellowship curriculum has been designed in fostering a philosophy of rest, healing, joy, and spaciousness for the creative spirit, in order to incubate and generate creative projects through an abolitionist praxis of collective-care and cohort-bonding. Through a culture of spaciousness, rest, and healing, this fellowship is designed to provide Black creatives time and space for creation, shifting from traditional and capitalist ideals of work and labor within the creative economy.

We are thrilled to share the Inaugural 2022-2023 CDM-FAACE Cohort, Inglewood-based artists, Oto-Abasi Attah, Autumn Breon, and juice wood.

Autumn Breon

CDM-FAACE Inaugural Fellow 2022-2023

Autumn Breon investigates the visual vocabulary of liberation through a queer Black feminist lens. A graduate of Stanford University, she studied Aeronautics & Astronautics and researched aeronautical astrobiology applications for NASA. Autumn’s examination of contemporary art throughout the African Diaspora began when she was living and working in South Africa. Through inquiry-based interaction, she invites audiences to participate in the examination of freedom, intersectional identities, and Diasporic memory. Using a variety of media – installation, digital image-making, collage, and performance – her qualitative and quantitative research processes provide the foundation for reimagining and creating systems that make current oppressive systems obsolete. Breon's work has been recognized by Artsy, the Smithsonian Institution, Aspen Institute, TED, the Obama Foundation, Artnet, Time Magazine, and the New York Times.

juice wood

CDM-FAACE Inaugural Fellow 2022-2023

juice wood is a multi-hyphenate artist, community builder, dog lover, and taco enthusiast. He received a BA in Acting from the University of Southern California and his MFA in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts. He has directed and produced several short films, commercials, web series, and interviews including two award winning shorts, Safe Haven and In Case I’m Next. wood is the CEO and Co-Founder of All in the FamilyTM - a creative ecosystem where priority to family, self-mastery, social impact, liberation, and equity anchor our art and offerings. In response to the pandemic, she co-founded the Inglewood Community Fridge and worked with other Champions and city organizers to re-engage the community in abolitionist and mutual aid practices. On the day to day, juice laughs hard, sees Sunday shows with her momma and serves the people as a part-time barista and theater usher. Origins: Inglewood, CA | by way of Pasadena, CA < Venice, CA < Fulton, AR | all!POWER! TO. ALL! THE! PEOPLE!

Oto-Abasi Attah

CDM-FAACE Inaugural Fellow 2022-2023

Oto-Abasi Attah is a Nigerian visual storyteller from Inglewood, CA. The stories he tells are those of his people. He strives to honor the past that led us to our current state of being, while offering a space to dream of a world where we can all just be. He achieves this by using a disposition similar to a child, always asking questions and never satisfied. He also does this by placing an emphasis on the natural, the state of being as well and the source that provides us life. His work is fueled by the lack of appetite for learning, a burning desire for people to be seen and their stories heard, with a gaze fixated on a liberated future. His work offers a safe space for people to reflect on the chaos of their daily lives and find a moment of peace. He constantly plays with the juxtaposition of life and death capturing still moments of the "in-between." He hopes to unveil these same reflections from his viewers, because the fastest way to a better tomorrow is together!

Crenshaw Dairy Mart Fellowship for Abolition and the Advancement of the Creative Economy (CDM-FAACE) Presents *Inglewood & Prototyping the Abolitionist Imagination*
The Three-Part, Culminating Exhibition will Feature Solo Exhibitions by CDM-FAACE Inaugural Fellows Autumn Breon, Oto-Abasi Attah, and juice wood
Los Angeles, CA [August 11, 2023] — Crenshaw Dairy Mart is pleased to announce the culminating exhibitions for the inaugural cohort of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart Fellowship for Abolition and the Advancement of the Creative Economy (CDM-FAACE). Organized around the theme, Inglewood & Prototyping the Abolitionist Imagination, and featuring three solo exhibitions by 2022-2023 CDM-FAACE Fellows Autumn Breon, Oto-Abasi Attah, and juice wood, this cogent presentation envisions the future of Inglewood through an abolitionist framework. The first exhibition, Autumn Breon: Essentials, will open on Saturday, August 26, 2023, and remain on view through September 1, 2023.
CDM-FAACE is a one-year fellowship program that incorporates the philosophies and ethos of traditional artist residency programs through a distinct abolitionist framework, alongside a robust curriculum with frequent lectures, workshops, and seminars. CDM-FAACE fellows have been introduced to models of collective-care and collective-critique through regular studio visits and group critiques for the duration of this year-long fellowship. Each fellow was provided with access to healthcare insurance for the entirety of their fellowship. They also received a stipend of $100,000 to utilize for living expenses, studio expenses, art supplies, and materials expenses.
“Crenshaw Dairy Mart’s selection of Autumn Breon, Oto-Abasi Attah, and juice wood for the inaugural CDM-FAACE cohort honors the collective’s grassroots legacy and the programmatic contributions of all three fellows since its founding, while representing key tenets of the abolitionist framework espoused by CDM’s co-founders. The culminating exhibitions of all three artists work together to prototype a rubric of care within this framework, providing space for healing, access to economies of care, and a way to memorialize the community and honor the past.” - Crenshaw Dairy Mart
Engaged around the theme, “Inglewood and Prototyping the Abolitionist Imagination,” each exhibition will present the fellows’ independent research and fieldwork, largely centered around navigating Black community autonomy, community healing, and economies of care. The inaugural 2022–2023 CDM-FAACE fellows, each of whom are Inglewood-born and raised, prototype the abolitionist imagination in their own communities, recognizing the history and people of Inglewood through their respective practices and discourse.
The first of three culminating exhibitions, Autumn Breon: Essentials will feature sculpture and video works that invite the audience to interact with relics from “Esoterica”, described by Breon as an extraterrestrial location and the next destination for ancestors when they leave Earth. An interactive piece in the form of a vending machine encourages the viewer to use familiar cues as opportunities to engage with the concept of care.
Video diptychs of Black women adorning themselves incorporate both original and archival imagery. Borrowing from the design of double-paneled altarpieces, these diptychs magnify intimate moments of care into images that are larger than life. The videos frame a singular vending machine supplied with objects that Black women requested in response to the question: “What items represent and provide care?” The pink vending machine is fully stocked with condoms, tampons, pads, edge control, braiding hair, abortion pill resources, and science fiction novels written by Black women. All contents are free of charge.
Autumn Breon’s work serves as an intervention to the current culture, as does the character she embodies through her practice – an intermediary entity from Esoterica who educates and thereby liberates the Earth-bound with information about the proximal, atemporal universe she inhabits. The artist’s process of worldbuilding is a radical, decolonial act of imagination that is deeply aligned with CDM’s guiding pedagogy of Abolitionist Aesthetics.
Presented across CDM's galleries, the groundbreaking exhibition amplifies the work of three foundational artists to CDM and underscores the pivotal roles each played in shaping CDM's inception. Autumn Breon, celebrated for co-curating the space’s inaugural exhibition Yes on R! Archives and Legal Conceptions in 2020, embodies the essence of community-oriented care; Oto-Abasi Attah, the visionary behind the captivating mural paying tribute to Nipsey Hussle, will transform one of the CDM galleries into a grassy space that will be used for communal gathering, collective rejuvenation, and creativity; juice wood established the first Inglewood Community Fridge at CDM and for this exhibition, will provide meticulous documentation of local narratives, effectively preserving and honoring the Inglewood community. Representing a holistic convergence of creativity and care around the central theme, Inglewood & Prototyping the Abolitionist Imagination also sets forth a replicable prototype for fostering care through an abolitionist framework while inviting visitors to engage with the essential fabric of their communities.

Learn more about "Inglewood & Prototyping the Abolitionist Imagination” Here